Pietraroiasuchus, Buscalioni & Piras & Vullo & Signore & Barbera, 2011

Buscalioni, Angela D., Piras, Paolo, Vullo, Romain, Signore, Marco & Barbera, Carmela, 2011, Early eusuchia crocodylomorpha from the vertebrate-rich Plattenkalk of Pietraroia (Lower Albian, southern Apennines, Italy), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 163 (5), pp. 644-645 : 644-645

GENUS PIETRAROIASUCHUS GEN. NOV.

Type species: Pietraroiasuchus ormezzanoi

Diagnosis of the genus: Small crocodylomorph about 1 m long, with flat skull (rostrum and mandible) and round rostral contour. Rostral profile convex in front of orbits; orbits with anterior rectilinear contour; premaxillary constituting about one-third of rostral length; maxillary alveoli medially placed and laterally bordered by a ridge (shared with Pachycheilosuchus ); three final maxillary teeth medially arranged in a platform (autapomorphy); maxillary bone with minimal sculpture and pitting aligned along lateral margins; maxillae send a short caudal process between the lachrymal and prefrontal, thus avoiding lachrymonasal contact; maxillary tooth row ends well anterior to posterior tip of maxilla; posteromedial edge of maxillae forming the margin of a depression or fossa in front of the maxillojugal suture; prefrontal and lachrymal about same length; preorbital fenestra slit-like; choana in pterygoid, anteriorly placed, and bordered by palatines; compound quadrate– quadratojugal condyles (autapomorphy); furrowed quadratojugal and quadrate suture (autapomorphy); pterygoidean flange not reaching laterally the medial quadrate condyle (shared with Iharkutosuchus ); lateroventral protuberance in exoccipitals form a vertical ridge (shared with Hylaeochampsa and Iharkutosuchus ); unforked and unique posterior dentary process (shared with Pachycheilosuchus ); medial extension of dentary; surangular anterodorsally expanded; posterodorsal smooth dentary projection lacking alveolar setting; homodont dentition; absence of external mandibular fenestra. Postcranial skeleton is characterized by slightly procoelous centra, being more pronounced in cervicals; anteroposteriorly, expansions of transverse processes in thoracic area; tail longer than the combined length of skull and presacrum; forelimb more slender and shorter than hindlimbs, with stout femora; humerus with straight shaft and distal condyles of similar transverse extension; long anterior dorsal end of coracoid twice the length of its ventral edge; nuchal shield separated from dorsal shield and composed of a compound set of six profusely ornamented osteoderms (two parasagittal rows and one lateral) (shared with Pachycheilosuchus ); dorsal dermal skeleton composed of tetraserial paravertebral shield and one accessory osteoderm.